In addition to being an ileostomate I have diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. My arthritis became serious enough that my rheumatologist started me on the biologic drug remicade. I have been on it for about 18 months. I was getting some good results from it and my doc increased my dose from 400 to 500 mg. More good results. Why do ostomates care about this. Add you know I have frequent flier miles in both the operating room and rehab. We have been trying for 7 months to heal the midline incision left over from making my ileostomy. The top of the incision had an abscess that ended up being 13 cm long. We were getting nowhere with healing despite the ministrations of a professional wound care team, a wound vac, and more varied wound backings than I can name. Finally about 3 months ago the team in consultation with my rheumatologist decided to suspend remicade. (One of the side effects is a propensity for getting infections. Low and behold about 2-3 weeks later the wound started healing (hurray). Today I am down to less than 1 cm. Home is in sight in 2-3 wells. So if you are taking remicade for some reason ... beware! (Note: this is my personal experience and is not meant as medical advice. ) Severe rheumatoid arthritis, spondoloarthropy, polymyalgia rhumatica, type 1 diabetic, IBS and finally, emergency diverticulitis surgery, colon removed Stella born Jan. 27, 2017. 6 bouts of c-diff, failed fecal transplant. Complete colonectomy and ileostomy July 30, 2018. ENOUGH!! Forgot to mention the trade off with the above. My arthritis went into a full blown flare and so I am now on an increased dose of prednisone (30 mg vs 5mg) so I am now having all the problems of the drug you love to hate! Severe rheumatoid arthritis, spondoloarthropy, polymyalgia rhumatica, type 1 diabetic, IBS and finally, emergency diverticulitis surgery, colon removed Stella born Jan. 27, 2017. 6 bouts of c-diff, failed fecal transplant. Complete colonectomy and ileostomy July 30, 2018. ENOUGH!! This a very good point that I think many people overlook when it comes to quite a variety of problems. Often times, it is a medication that may be having a direct or indirect problem with our stoma, so it's good to cover all bases when troubleshooting. Glad it helped in one way - sad it hurts in another. I'm surprised the increase in prednisone hasn't had a negative effect on your wounds - it tends to create problems in this area. Just your friendly neighborhood ostomate. Eric, today is Wednesday the increase in prednisone was made on Monday. The increase to 30 mg was for 3 days so tomorrow will start weaning back to my maintenance dose of 5 mg. I don't see the wound care team till tomorrow so I don't know if this has affected the healing. I will let you know what they say tomorrow. Unfortunately it was another of those infamous trade offs. Had we not done something I would probably have been lying here in a frozen lump not moving!? Thanks for getting back to me! Severe rheumatoid arthritis, spondoloarthropy, polymyalgia rhumatica, type 1 diabetic, IBS and finally, emergency diverticulitis surgery, colon removed Stella born Jan. 27, 2017. 6 bouts of c-diff, failed fecal transplant. Complete colonectomy and ileostomy July 30, 2018. ENOUGH!! I hope your wound heals quickly. I'm on stelara and had an ulcer under my appliance that took forever to heal. Biologics can be our best friend and worst enemy sometimes. Raine Amen to that!! Severe rheumatoid arthritis, spondoloarthropy, polymyalgia rhumatica, type 1 diabetic, IBS and finally, emergency diverticulitis surgery, colon removed Stella born Jan. 27, 2017. 6 bouts of c-diff, failed fecal transplant. Complete colonectomy and ileostomy July 30, 2018. ENOUGH!!
~ Crohn's Disease ¦ Ileostomy ~
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